Stormtrooper and Ghostbuster assaulted at FCBD event

Adam Barnes

By most reports, Free Comic Book Day was again a resounding success, enjoyed by tens of thousands of fans the world over (you can see coverage of many events at CBR Live!), but in Portland, Maine, the celebration took a turn for the worse.

According to the Maine Sun Journal, a man dressed as a Ghostbuster and another dressed as a Stormtrooper were assaulted Saturday afternoon outside Coast City Comics in an attack police described as “completely random.”

“There were a bunch of people standing outside trying to drum up business and one guy was dressed as a Stormtrooper,” Bobby Daggett, who was dressed as Green Lantern, told the newspaper. “Out of nowhere this guy tried to put [the guy in the Stormtrooper costume] in a chokehold from behind and then throws him to the ground. He was trying to be intimidating above him and screamed obscenities to everybody.”

Police said they subdued an intoxicated Adam Barnes — all 6 feet 4 inches and 300 pounds of him — with a stun gun and charged the 31-year-old man with two counts of assault, disorderly conducts and five counts of criminal threatening because he threatened the officers on the scene. He was being held at the Cumberland County Jail on $1,500 bail.“I’ve been a cop for 23 years, Portland police Lt. Gary Hutcheson told the newspaper. “I’ve never heard of a Ghostbuster and a Stormtrooper getting assaulted.”